Anyone recommend a Spark fiber compatible modem with Gigabit LAN ports

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › Anyone recommend a Spark fiber compatible modem with Gigabit LAN ports

ruskin0611

10 posts

Wannabe Geek

#151903 9-Sep-2014 15:52

So am building a house in an area that has UFB. But because it's a new build (and because I can source some materials cheaply), I am wiring up with Cat6a and have Gigabit devices (NAS, network cards in my main pc and media PC and a LinkSys WRT1900AC router with Gigabit ports).
Was a bit surprised that Spark only offer the Huawei HG630B for home users, which has only 100 Megabit LAN ports. They have another modem (in the Huawei HG659B) which has Gigabit LAN ports, but (and this is direct from someone on their customer support line), this modem is ONLY available for business users and can not be sold to residential customers.

That totally threw me, as I would have thought that business customers get it for free when signing up to a new deal and given that they were happy to give me the HG630B for free and I was offering to let them keep that and I would PAY for the HG659B, they would jump at the chance to let me give them money. Seems stupid to setup my home network as Gigabit capable only to be constrained by a 100 Megabit port on the modem when accessing internet traffic.

Because I can't find the Huawei HG659B for sale online and because Spark won't let me purchase it from them, does anyone know of a decent modem that will connect to the fiber network, has a telepermit approval and has Gigabit ports (don't care about 802.11ac wireless as my router can handle that. I just want a modem with at least one Gigabit LAN port that my router can plug into)?

1 | 2

222 posts

Master Geek

#1125136 9-Sep-2014 16:02

We have the Mikrotik RB2011iL-RM, works great with Fiber, you can check out the range of routers from www.gowifi.co.nz

Takes a little bit to setup, but a pretty good bang for buck with awesome features.

"Setting the Standard in Quality and Commitment"

bagheera

539 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1125137 9-Sep-2014 16:03

buy a good big 1gb switch - double the port you think you need, plug a short cable from the spark modem into the switch, plug the rest of your stuff into the gb switch job done - as the max speed on fiber is 100mb, having 1 port to the internet at 100mb is fine, the rest will go over the gb switch local

ruskin0611

10 posts

Wannabe Geek

#1125140 9-Sep-2014 16:05

overkill: We have the Mikrotik RB2011iL-RM, works great with Fiber, you can check out the range of routers from www.gowifi.co.nz

Takes a little bit to setup, but a pretty good bang for buck with awesome features.

Thanks mate. Will check it out.
You wouldn't have tried bridging it by any chance?

ruskin0611

10 posts

Wannabe Geek

#1125142 9-Sep-2014 16:07

bagheera: buy a good big 1gb switch - double the port you think you need, plug a short cable from the spark modem into the switch, plug the rest of your stuff into the gb switch job done - as the max speed on is 100mb, having 1 port to the internet at 100mb is fine, the rest will go over the gb switch local

Thanks, but the internal LAN is all good with 1 gb. It's the connection to the internet (from the switch or in my case, my router) to the modem that I was hoping to up a little (with fiber hooked up and a local network on 1 gb, didn't want my bottle neck to be the connection between the siwtch/router and the modem).

bagheera

539 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1125143 9-Sep-2014 16:10

ruskin0611:
bagheera: buy a good big 1gb switch - double the port you think you need, plug a short cable from the spark modem into the switch, plug the rest of your stuff into the gb switch job done - as the max speed on is 100mb, having 1 port to the internet at 100mb is fine, the rest will go over the gb switch local

Thanks, but the internal LAN is all good with 1 gb. It's the connection to the internet (from the switch or in my case, my router) to the modem that I was hoping to up a little (with fiber hooked up and a local network on 1 gb, didn't want my bottle neck to be the connection between the siwtch/router and the modem).

but what bottle neck? - your connection is 100mb max, if you get faster, you will need a faster modem - which the isp will give you, so having the internet link plugged into the modem and the rest plug into a gb switch, there is no bottle neck

sbiddle

30853 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod

Trusted

Biddle Corp

Lifetime subscriber

#1125144 9-Sep-2014 16:12

Most people with multiple devices would have a switch. It makes it semi irrelevant what ports the router has on it as the connection is only 100Mbps.

I don't understand your setup anyway if you're then planning on having a 3rd party router anyway presumably doing double NAT. There is no such thing as a "modem" in the UFB world.

If you've already purchased the Linksys why are you not just plugging that directly into the ONT? I believe they do VLAN tagging.

ruskin0611

10 posts

Wannabe Geek

#1125146 9-Sep-2014 16:16

bagheera:
ruskin0611:
bagheera: buy a good big 1gb switch - double the port you think you need, plug a short cable from the spark modem into the switch, plug the rest of your stuff into the gb switch job done - as the max speed on is 100mb, having 1 port to the internet at 100mb is fine, the rest will go over the gb switch local

Thanks, but the internal LAN is all good with 1 gb. It's the connection to the internet (from the switch or in my case, my router) to the modem that I was hoping to up a little (with fiber hooked up and a local network on 1 gb, didn't want my bottle neck to be the connection between the siwtch/router and the modem).

but what bottle neck? - your connection is 100mb max, if you get faster, you will need a faster modem - which the isp will give you, so having the internet link plugged into the modem and the rest plug into a gb switch, there is no bottle neck

What connection is 100mb max? The WAN connection is 1gb, it only appears that the LAN connections on that modem are 100mb

Equinox IT

Cloud spending continues to surge globally, but most organisations haven’t made the changes necessary to maximise the value and cost-efficiency benefits of their cloud investments. Download the whitepaper From Overspend to Advantage now.

sbiddle

30853 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod

Trusted

Biddle Corp

Lifetime subscriber

#1125147 9-Sep-2014 16:18

There is also no need for an Ethernet router to have a Telepermit (unless it features a modem) as it's not connected to the PSTN.

ruskin0611

10 posts

Wannabe Geek

#1125148 9-Sep-2014 16:18

sbiddle: Most people with multiple devices would have a switch. It makes it semi irrelevant what ports the router has on it as the connection is only 100Mbps.

I don't understand your setup anyway if you're then planning on having a 3rd party router anyway presumably doing double NAT. There is no such thing as a "modem" in the UFB world.

If you've already purchased the Linksys why are you not just plugging that directly into the ONT? I believe they do VLAN tagging.

Can the Linksys plug directly into the ONT? I thought it was only a router.
Think my knowledge is a little grey here, but was told I need a modem to connect to the ONT.

sbiddle

30853 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod

Trusted

Biddle Corp

Lifetime subscriber

#1125155 9-Sep-2014 16:23

Thee is no such thing as a modem in the fibre world. The router (which is what Spark are supplying you) plugs directly into the ONT.

If you then plug your router in behind this you'll have double NAT breaking things.

If the Linksys supports VLAN tagging it can be plugged straight into the ONT. I've heard these units aren't the best performance though despite the big box, so your milage may vary. There have been some good review online, but I suspect they're from people who haven't actually used the device.

bagheera

539 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1125169 9-Sep-2014 16:30

ruskin0611:
bagheera:
ruskin0611:
bagheera: buy a good big 1gb switch - double the port you think you need, plug a short cable from the spark modem into the switch, plug the rest of your stuff into the gb switch job done - as the max speed on is 100mb, having 1 port to the internet at 100mb is fine, the rest will go over the gb switch local

Thanks, but the internal LAN is all good with 1 gb. It's the connection to the internet (from the switch or in my case, my router) to the modem that I was hoping to up a little (with fiber hooked up and a local network on 1 gb, didn't want my bottle neck to be the connection between the siwtch/router and the modem).

but what bottle neck? - your connection is 100mb max, if you get faster, you will need a faster modem - which the isp will give you, so having the internet link plugged into the modem and the rest plug into a gb switch, there is no bottle neck

What connection is 100mb max? The WAN connection is 1gb, it only appears that the LAN connections on that modem are 100mb

most ufb fibre connection are 100Mb/s max - so having the router max speed of 100 should not make a bottle neck for you if you plug in 1gb switch and uplink to this router - if you got faster then isp should be giving a faster router

ruskin0611

10 posts

Wannabe Geek

#1125180 9-Sep-2014 17:08

sbiddle: Thee is no such thing as a modem in the fibre world. The router (which is what Spark are supplying you) plugs directly into the ONT.

If you then plug your router in behind this you'll have double NAT breaking things.

If the Linksys supports VLAN tagging it can be plugged straight into the ONT. I've heard these units aren't the best performance though despite the big box, so your milage may vary. There have been some good review online, but I suspect they're from people who haven't actually used the device.

Thanks heaps... Just did some google searching and think I have found some resources to help me out here.
Cheers for your help...

Stu

Hammered
8333 posts

Uber Geek

Moderator

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1125186 9-Sep-2014 17:09

Exactly as sbiddle mentioned, just connect the WAN port of your LinkSys WRT1900AC to your ONT. Done. You're in business. (Note: You may have to update the firmware of the WRT1900AC, as old firmware apparently didn't support VLAN tagging.)

If you need to, think of the ONT as the modem (it isn't, but it sits between the router and the cable coming in to the house, as a "modem" would on a copper line).

People often mistake me for an adult because of my age.

Keep calm, and carry on posting.

Referral Links: Sharesies - Backblaze -

Are you happy with what you get from Geekzone? If so, please consider supporting us by subscribing.

No matter where you go, there you are.